Phil May: Belated Thoughts on Tax Day

Tax Day

Here are some belated thoughts about April 15th, the day Americans have to settle up with the Federal government. 

1. The annual holiday where you guess how much money you owe the government.
2. If you guess too much, they’ll return it after holding your money all year without interest; there will be many advertised sales advising you how to spend the “windfall” the government “gives” you.
3. If you guess too little you will be required to pay what you owe, you will also be required to pay a financial penalty for being a bad guesser and potentially interest that you wouldn’t get if you were owed a refund.
4. You are a bad guesser if you happen to have investments and do not predict what the stock market will do for the year; even though your job is not stockbroker and even though professional stockbrokers are not able to predict the stock market. Also, this money may have been re-invested and you never saw a dime of it.
5. If you owe a lot of income taxes you will be insulted and belittled for not paying your “fair share” by elected officials, even though, you receive the same benefits (and often less) from the government as those that pay no income tax.
6. If you owe no taxes but have small children, you can receive a tax “credit” on taxes you didn’t have to pay. Because it’s a credit and not a deduction you’ll receive a refund on an amount that was never paid.  Some people would call it welfare or wealth re-distribution.
7. It will usually require that you hire a specially trained individual or buy custom software to help you do your taxes correctly; even if you have a college or advanced degree in, let’s say Engineering.
8. If you are a really bad guesser or trust the wrong professional, you can go to prison.
9. If you finally reached the age where you get something tangible back from your government and receive social security, the chances are very good that you will have to pay at least some tax on that money, giving a portion back to the government, like a kickback to Tony Soprano. The amount of money you don’t have to pay tax on is not indexed for inflation unlike, oh, let’s see the amount of money you do have to pay tax on.
10. Americans threw tea into Boston Harbor because of a tax of 3 pence for a pound of tea. Today the government expects anywhere from 0% to 37% of your income, the state will take up to 13%, you’ll be expected to pay 6.2% for Social Security, unless you are energetic and self-employed, your reward for this industry and initiative means you’ll pay 12.4% into Social Security. Let’s not forget the sales tax on virtually everything that you buy and property tax which ensures that you will always be a renter even if you buy a home. 
11. Don’t fall for the government line that some people aren’t paying their “fair share” no matter how rich they are. You are a better steward of your money than the government.

Phil May is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and West Point graduate. Following his Army career he spent 22 years working in the defense industry.

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